Author's Note: Thanks for suffering with me through some seriously frustrating days. Yesterday, the internet went out across the whole hotel, so... no update, as a result.

Add to that frustration that I'm getting a constant bombardment of negative feedback at the hotel. Especially from my boss, who seems to be able to chew me out even when I show him that I took him from $20,000 loss per year to $10,000 profit. Apparently, this illustrates just how many problems I'm causing him, because if he's actually making money from the whole thing, then he'll need to pay taxes on it. So... I just can't win!

I think I've gone, at this point, from hating my life, to hating everything in the world.

So frustrating!

Anyways, bear with me while I desperately try to deal with a job that is making my life utterly miserable. It might make updates a little dicey, and mean that I catch fewer typos (sorry, I've started to notice me missing them). Also, I might wind up ranting more at the beginning of my chapter posts, because I feel totally unappreciated.

I think the reviews I get for my writing might be one of the only positive outlets in my life, right now.

At least I like writing a lot. That makes me feel happy.

Anyways, enjoy!

Dawn soon found herself packed inside of Deborah Raykins' IPSA space ship. And she meant 'packed'. It had been a tight squeeze from the start… and the fact that they were carrying Seo's space ship around with them wasn't helping.

Or… actually… it was helping a lot, in a certain sense.

After all.

Dawn wasn't randomly shooting out energy, anymore. Or at least, not visibly.

That was good.

"The ship's reading are all over the place," Raykins cursed. Frantically flipping and poking and prodding at things. "Like there's some massive unstable energy source nearby that keeps interfering with…"

She stopped.

Then looked over at Dawn.

"Oh," she said. Pulled her hand away. "Never mind."

Dawn felt more than slightly unnerved by this. Yeah, she was the Key, but… she usually tried to keep that info kind of under the table.

She hated blowing her cover like this.

Raykins checked a reading. Then redirected her ship somewhere else. "Truth is, I should be taking you back to Korjensky, right now," she admitted. "But seeing as… you're… well…"

"Unstable?" Dawn put in.

"…better keep you as close to… your niece… as possible," Raykins agreed.

Dawn broke into a huge smile. "So we are going to rescue her!" she cried.

Raykins shot Dawn a pointed stare. "I'm going to rescue her," she said. Eyes snapped back ahead of her, at the space. "No, you're getting dropped with some friends of mine. Their ship's out of the militarized zone for some refueling, repairing, and re-gunning. You'll be safe, there."

Dawn felt anger flaring up inside of her. "Yeah, right! You think I'm gonna just sit back while some Daleks torture my…!"

"That's exactly what you're going to do," Raykins snapped. "I don't care who you are or what legendary monsters you've fought against. According to IPSA regulations, you're an unarmed civilian, a non-combatant, and a battlefield liability. I'm not taking you into a combat zone. Especially not a zone filled with Daleks."

Dawn went quiet for a while.

"You'll be okay," Raykins assured her. "Your niece will be okay. I give you my word on that." Her hands tightened around the wheel of the ship. "But you're staying with VQ 17."

"With what?"

"Vanquisher 17," said Raykins. A smile lit up her face. "My second home. It's where I was posted before my promotion." Her eyes went a little distant, for a moment. "That's one of the drawbacks of being smart enough to get promoted to IPSA Intelligence. Sure, you wind up having a chance to really make a difference in this war — instead of just being Dalek target practice. But… you have to leave all your friends behind. Knowing… if they ever need you… you won't be around to help."

Dawn could see, on Raykins' face.

That had been the hardest thing for her.

"So why did you accept the promotion?" Dawn asked.

Raykins stole a glance at her. "I had to," she said. "It was my duty. High Command thought I could be useful in an intelligence capacity, and I follow their orders. I trust their decisions."

Dawn gave a half-shrug. "You still didn't shoot me after I tested positive for Replicant Whateverness."

Raykins went very quiet.

"And you didn't shoot down Seo, even though your orders said you had to," Dawn continued. "And then you told me all about Sunglasses, even though that stuff was probably pretty top-secret." Shrugged. "Sounds to me like you don't really trust this IPSA High Command as much as you think."

"It's the duty if everyone at IPSA to follow orders."

"Yeah?"

"We have an army of a two million out here," said Raykins, evenly, "fighting to defend this galactic sector from one of the most evil threats in the universe. If no one obeyed their orders, we'd fall into chaos and lose this war in a matter of minutes."

Dawn shifted in place. "Ria has this phrase she likes to use," she provided. "'Order-Smart'. It's like following orders, except you do it in a smart way. Like, in this one battle, Faith was supposed to take out the Rolip Demons, but all her Slayer instincts told her it was a bad idea. So she stuck near them, found out they were the biggest gossips of the demon world, and then took that info back to Ria. Ria was really happy, and instead of killing the Rolip Demons, we used them to spread false intelligence to the enemy."

Raykins nodded, slowly. "That would be… Ria Hiskaloph?" she said.

Dawn was a little startled. "Yeah," she said. "How did you…?" Then stopped. As she realized, "Oh, she's probably famous or something."

"One of the first Presidents of the Slayer Institute," Raykins said. She glanced at Dawn. "A contemporary of yours, Dawn Sompters?"

"Summers," said Dawn, automatically. It took her brain another second before she processed what this meant, and added, "Wait, so… you believe my whole back story thing!"

"It's the only thing that makes sense," Raykins replied. She drummed her fingers against the wheel of the space ship. "I don't know how I'm going to explain it to High Command, though. They'd never believe me in a million years."

Dawn was actually kind of relieved about that.

She didn't know what kinds of crazy-weird legends these guys had built up about Buffy and the Sunnydale gang, but she had the feeling that if IPSA command knew, for a fact, that Dawn was around — they'd drag her into this war. And Seo, too.

If there was one thing Dawn didn't want to do to her niece, it was get her involved in a massive Dalek war.

No, thanks.

"I'd actually kind of like it better if you didn't tell anyone at IPSA who I am," Dawn said. "Just… you know. So I don't get too involved."

Raykins frowned.

"This war will be over, soon," Dawn said. "I promise. But… Seo and I aren't the ones who end it."

And Dawn was guessing that if she stuck around long enough that Buffy showed up… a pre-Dracula Buffy, who didn't have a sister and had only just defeated Adam…

…that Buffy, meeting a sister she didn't have yet, along with a daughter who so obviously acted like a certain hyperactive Time Lord whom Buffy had a massive crush on…

…well, Dawn didn't know too much about time stuff.

But she was guessing that would be time-space explodingly bad.

"The war will be over soon?" Raykins shook her head. "How do you know this?"

"It's complicated," said Dawn. "And I don't know all the details." Thanks to Buffy being all with the stuck-uppedness and argumentativeness. "But I do know that Seo and I can't stick around for it. And… anyways… if I got Seo into a huge Dalek-shoot-out, Buffy would kill me."

"Buffy," Raykins repeated. Deadpan.

"Yeah, my…" Dawn trailed off. "Oh. You… already know who my sister is, huh?"

"I didn't know Bun… Buffy… had any children," Raykins said.

Dawn giggled at this. "Yeah, neither did she," she said. "But that's Seo for you. Full of surprises." Her giggles fell away, into melancholy, as she remembered… where Seo was. She buried her face in her hands. "Oh, Buffy's going to kick my ass big time if she finds out I let Seo get captured by Daleks. You have no idea how much Buffy loves that kid."

Raykins flickered her eyes over. "I'm going to get her back."

"You say that," said Dawn, "but I'd feel a lot more secure if I could come along, too."

"IPSA protocols," said Raykins. "I can't do that."

"Those are the same IPSA protocols that made you almost blow up Seo?" Dawn challenged.

Raykins didn't say anything.

But her resolve held firm.

"I may not be on the official register, or anything, but… I have worked for the Slayers in the past," Dawn pointed out. "I was involved in the Final War of the Hellmouth, the Demon Civil War, the—"

"But you've never faced down Daleks before," Raykins replied.

"Says who?!" snapped Dawn. "Last time I faced down a Dalek was with the Doctor! Trust me, I get Daleks."

For a long moment, there was silence.

An unreadable expression passing across Raykins' face.

Raykins cleared her throat. "This… Doctor. What do you know about him?"

Dawn was on edge immediately. "Why do you want to know?"

"I'm curious," said Raykins.

"Because you want to capture him and hand him over to your IPSA High Command whatevers to get the secrets of time travel out of him?" Dawn challenged. Yeah, she remembered that particular Buffy melt-down. Wasn't about to give someone who was all IPSA's-Always-Right anything she could use against the Doctor.

Raykins pursed her lips, in thought. "You… mentioned," she began to explain, "that you and your niece were brought to Jarodin by an outside force."

"Yeah, there was something about the vortex, around there," said Dawn. "It looked all weird through the windows. And…"

Dawn trailed off.

As she realized what Raykins was getting at.

"You said, on Jarodin, that this whole thing was a trap for Seo!" said Dawn. "Set by that Sunglasses person."

Raykins shook her head. "A trap, yes. But… not for Seo."

Oh.

Uh, oh.

"The Doctor?" Dawn realized. "Sunglasses purposely tried to make sure Seo got kidnapped by the Daleks… to lure the Doctor to…!"

Oh, it made sense!

Maybe this was what had lured the Doctor to the 39th century in the first place! He was looking for Seo, and then Adam was resurrected, and that whole thing with Buffy getting sent to the future had started. Or… something.

Dawn didn't know for sure.

That was the problem with being 'Slayer's little sister'. Dawn knew that Buffy went to the future — to right around now — and met the Doctor and the Slayers and Resurrected-Adam and a whole bunch of other people. But Buffy hadn't given Dawn enough details about what had happened in the 39th century for Dawn to know how the whole chain of events had started.

And Buffy had never mentioned anything about… 'Sunglasses'.

Was that because Dawn, right here and now, had managed to foil Sunglasses' plans? Was that Dawn's role in this whole crazy thing?

"If this is a trap to draw the Doctor into this war," said Raykins, "I need to advise High Command about whom they can trust. The Doctor, or—"

"No!" Dawn cut in, sharply. "Don't tell IPSA High Command about the Doctor. Definitely not!"

Buffy would double kill her for that one.

Raykins' face went very grave at this. But she said nothing.

"Look, you can trust the Doctor," Dawn said. "I'd trust him with anything. Buffy would trust him with anything. I mean, he's Seo's…!" Then she stopped. As she realized that sharing this bit of information would probably not be good for timelines, either.

…or had she shared it already? Damn. Dawn couldn't remember!

"But you can't tell IPSA high-up people about him," said Dawn. "Buffy would never let me hear the end of it, if you did. And… well, I don't think he'd like it much, either." She thought back to the Doctor, a small smile settling across her lips. "He's doesn't do well with military big-wigs. He's kind of more… little-people oriented."

Something about this statement seemed to rattle Raykins to the core.

But she immediately smoothed over any unease that was showing on her face.

"Someone has to know," said Raykins. "Otherwise, the moment he arrives, he'll be killed. Either by the Daleks, or by us. And if he's as big a Dalek fighter as he seems… he'd be a lot more use to the war effort alive than dead."

"Can you stop talking about people just in terms of their soldier-ness?" Dawn shook her head. "I mean… geeze! It sounds like you're happy the Doctor's being set-up, because it gives you IPSA guys a chance to snag him and use him for your own purposes!"

"I didn't—"

"You can't force someone to fight a war they don't want to fight!" Dawn shouted. "I mean, the Daleks are out there, right now, probably trying to force Seo to go all Mega-Glory on IPSA, despite everything she believes in… and you're prepared to do the same thing to get the Doctor to fight for your side! What the hell is wrong with you?"

Raykins was silent.

And Dawn realized… she was being stupid, here.

What was this helping? Buffy had said that most of the IPSA people were actually pretty cool, and didn't want the Doctor hurt at all. It'd do Dawn no favors at all to antagonize Raykins, who was obviously smart enough to work out when to bend the rules a little.

"Sorry," said Dawn. Slumping a little in her seat. "I'm just… really worried about Seo."

"You should be," said Raykins. Her face was a blank mask. "Now that I know just how powerful she is… I can't let the Daleks use her for their own ends. If I can't get her back, Dawn… IPSA directives are to take out her and the Daleks performing the research at all costs."

Dawn's eyes widened. "You can't! She's Buffy's daughter!"

"And chances are she's already dead," Raykins snapped. "They're Daleks, Dawn. That's what they do! Exterminate people." Raykins' face went even stonier. "I'd say there's a fifty percent chance she's already dead. With anyone else, I'd estimate 99 percent… but a super-weapon? Down to fifty."

"She can't be…!"

"If she is alive," Raykins continued, "she's almost certainly not under her own control, anymore. 75% chance she's been infected by nanogenes, or her brain's been wiped clean, or she's been turned into a robo-man, or… oh, everything else that they do. Take your pick."

Dawn shuddered.

Oh, God, she didn't want to think like that! Couldn't think like that!

"That means there's a twenty five percent chance she's all right — out of the fifty percent chance they haven't killed her on the spot," said Raykins. "Thirteen percent chance, overall, that there's anything left to rescue."

Dawn swallowed hard.

"Add to that the additional 30% chance that the rescue attempt would succeed," said Raykins, "and we're down to 4%. A 4% chance we can get Seo back from the Daleks. And the longer they keep her alive, the better the chance that they'll discover how Seo could help them exterminate the rest of the universe."

This is why Dawn didn't like math and percentages.

It made things sound a lot more depressing.

"We know she's not dead yet, though," Dawn said, tentatively. "If she was… I'd go completely unstable, and the universe would end."

Raykins gripped the steering wheel even tighter. Her knuckles turning white. "Which means the probability that the Daleks will end the universe, now that they have Seo, is practically 100%. Because either they kill her, and you end the universe. Or they figure out how to use her to do the same thing."

Yeah.

Dawn definitely hated percentages.

"IPSA protocols state that we can't take that kind of chance," said Raykins. "That's why they're there! To prevent situations like this. If I'd blown up that ship, taken you out as a Dalek Replicant… I wouldn't be in this mess!"

"And you'd have killed Buffy's only sister and only daughter," Dawn said.

Raykins was very quiet.

Then, with an exasperated sigh, she seemed to accept this.

"I'll keep your secrets, Dawn," Raykins said. "I'll take insane risks for you. And I'll probably get myself killed trying to do so." She glanced over at Dawn. "But I will not take you with me to rescue your niece. That's the end of it."

Dawn opened her mouth to protest.

But realized… this was probably the best she was going to get.

So she changed her protest into a nod.

"Good," Raykins said. Punched in buttons into the nav computer. "Then let's get to VQ 17."